News

News-General News Items

• 02/24/2010 - 2010 Parent Guide Available March 8
  Click on the title above for information regarding the availability of the new Parent Guide as created by the New Orleans Parent Organizing Network.
  
  
• 01/28/2010 Rebowe & Company Issues Independent Audit
  The Board of Directors of Communities In Schools of New Orleans received the Independent Auditors Report of Rebowe & Company, Certified Public Accountants, at its regularly scheduled Board Meeting held tonight. Claire Stahel, Board Chair, noted that the auditors gave "an unqualified opinion" and noted no audit exceptions in the Report to Management. Sara Massey, Executive Director said "As we continue to grow the financial resources to support our work of removing barriers to academic success for our CIS students, it is important that donors of all categories have confidence in our financial controls and our ability to be good stewards of their gifts and contract dollars." CIS New Orleans began obtaining audited financial statements with the FY ending June 30, 2008, and received an unqualified opinion on that report as well. The Form 990-EZ will be filed by February 15, 2010.
  
  In accordance with law and best practices, CIS New Orleans will make copies of it audit available upon written request and within reasonable timeframe. Please contact our office should you wish a copy.
  
  

News Releases- Donors to Communities In Schools

• 05/28/2009 The Dollar General Literacy Foundation and General Mills Give Free Books to New Orleans Children
  A wonderful shipment of 5,000 brand new books, and financial support for the CIS' RIF Books for Ownership program, which serves students in grades K-3 in five public schools, will make for summer reading fun. Click the heading of this news items to review the press release.
  
  

News- CIS Partners Providing Services for CIS Students

• 02/07/2010 Another Group of "Saints" Are Coming....Lutheran Youth to Return in 2012!!
  02/07/2010 On a day when people across the nation were pulling for the Saints in unprecedented numbers, another group of "saints" announced that they were coming (back) to New Orleans. Heidi Hagstrom, Director of Youth Gatherings for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, coordinated the 37,000 participant youth gathering in New Orleans in July 2009. Today, Ms. Hagstrom announced that, in unprecedented action, the triennial youth gathering will return to New Orleans in July 2012. Residents of New Orleans will remember the incredible contribution of service- the equivalent of one person working four hours a day, 365 days a year, for 96 years- that all 37,000 gave while here. Communities In School assisted the Gathering Leadership with identifying potential service partners and sites, and facilitated the Gathering's gift of more than $300,000 in school supplies for 13,550 kindergarten through 3rd graders in all 58 of New Orleans' public schools. Communities In Schools looks forward to working with the ELCA Youth Gathering as it begins planning in the next several months.
  
  
• 08/26/2009 Connect2Educate Launches Website
  Communities In Schools is a founding partner of the Connect2Educate Collaborative. The Connect2Educate (C2E) Collaborative evolved from community conversations regarding our collective responsibility to help improve public schools. Those conversations sparked a group of resolution-driven organizations coalescing around the community’s role in advancing and enriching public schools. The resulting partnership is an alliance of diverse organizations including Greater New Orleans Afterschool Partnership (GNO AP), Communities In Schools of New Orleans (CIS New Orleans), Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH), Save Our Schools – New Orleans (SOSNOLA), Start the Adventure in Reading (STAIR), and over 100 community resource providers, that have come together to help overcome the inequitable public school utilization of community programs as well as the inefficiencies that exist in connecting community resource providers and public school decision-makers. The C2E Collaborative is a strong example of how atypical allies can work in true collaboration toward mutually common goals. Our two major intiatives include a networking event and the publication of a resource guide called the C2E Notebook.
  
  
  
• 07/20/2009 Communities In Schools of New Orleans to Participate in One of the Nation’s Largest Volunteer Gatherings
  Support Will Be Given to Every Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade Public School Student in the City
  
  
• 05/13/2009 First Lady Michelle Obama visits CIS Site in Washington DC
  Communities In Schools was pleased to host a visit with Ms. Obama this week. Click above to read about her visit.
  
  
• 02/10/2009 A Great Story on Youth Empowerment: A Message from the Executive Director
  
  
• 01/11/2009 CIS and A Can of Corn